Thomas d



(No Model.)

T. D. INGRAM. DESK 0R STATIONERY I NPL EMB NT.

No. 5Z7,859." Patented Oct. 23, 1894.

m5 "cams PETERS ca. Pumu'ma. wAsMmomN, u. c.

ti'NrrED STATES P TENT OFFICE.

THOMAS D. INGRAM, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

DESK OR STATIONERYJMPLEMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 527,859, dated October 23, 1894.

' Application filed July 18, 1894. Serial No. 517,884- (No model.)

' as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in and relating to desk or stationery implements, and is principally designed to furnish a convenient, simple and effective means, readily at hand, for extracting pens from pen holders, and for inserting pens within pen holders. To this end I pref erably embody the means for this purpose in a combined knife eraser and envelope opener,- an instrument peculiarly appropriate to a desk outfit,and I furthermore so construct the knife eraser handle that the instrument may be readily picked up from the plane surface of the desk, and so that the blade portion with its sharp edges will rest normally in contact with the desk surface thereby guarding against danger of the desk occupant being accidentally cut, and, at the same time raising the pen-extracting portions of the instrument from contact with the surface of the desk or any paper that may be upon the desk, whereby the surface of the desk or of the paper and the like will be prevented from becoming soiled by any particles of ink that may have remained upon the pen-extracting portions of the instrument after it has been used for extracting a pen.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a plan view of my preferred form of pen-extracting and inserting knife eraser. Fig. 2 represents a partial longitudinal sectional view thereof on an enlarged scale, and illustrates the manner in which the instrument operates in extracting a pen from its holder. Fig. 3 represents a like view wherein the operation of inserting a pen within its holder is illustrated. Fig. 4 represents a side elevation of the instrument shown in Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings, A indicates a knife eraser, envelope opener or paper outupon which it rests so that it can be readily grasped by the fingers, and so that, when resting upon the surface of the desk or the like the sharpened point of the eraser with its cutting edges Will be brought down to the desk surface, which will furnish, therefore, a safeguard against the accidental cutting of the fingers of the desk occupant, which ever side of the instrument is proximate to the desk surface.

Another function of the fluted or corrugated end b is to raise above the level of the desk or papers, or other surface upon which the instrument is resting, that portion (as, for instance, 0) within which the pen-extracting means are located, so that the surface of the desk or of the papers will not be soiled by any ink that may have adhered to the pen-extracting portion of the instrument.

The provision for extracting and inserting pens consists of a slot (1 of general U-shape in plan view, as indicated in Fig. 1, said slot being carried through the metal of sufficient length to leave a springy tongue 6 beveled at its free end toward the knife blade portion of the instrument.

The slot (1 is made of U-form so as to correspond approximately with the cross section of the usual form of a pen, as for instance, a stub pen, and the bevel is imparted to the free end of the tongue and to the corresponding part of the instrument in j uxtaposition to the free end of the tongue, for the purpose of enabling the instrument to exert a clamping or biting action upon the pen during the operation of inserting or removingthe pen from the holder.

The operation will be apparent from the description of the parts and from theillustration.

Thus, referring to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the instrument, which has been grasped in the left hand of the operator, is held while the pen f, which has previously been inserted through the slot (1, is rocked within the slot until it becomes firmly locked or clamped between the opposing bevels of the springy tongue e and the adjacent wall of the slot. The pen holder, f, is, of course, held in the right hand of the operator during this manipulation, and the pen being thus clamped within the instrument may be at once drawn out of the holder. To insert a pen within its holder, the instrument is reversed or turned over with respect to its position in Fig. 2, and the pen is inserted through the instrument in a direction opposite to that illustrated in Fig. 2, so that by holding the instrument firmly in the left hand and pushing upon the pen holder, the pen can be readily forced into the latter.

I do not Wish to be understood as restricting myself to any particular location of the pen-extracting tongue along the length of the knife eraser or other desk implement, nor do I restrict myself, so far as the broad claims are concerned, even to the employment of the pen-extracting devices in a knife eraser, as it is apparent that while peculiarly adapted thereto, and while peculiarly adapted to their particular location intermediate of the sharpened edge and raised opposite end of the knife eraser, they may still be employed with useful efiect in any analogous desk instrument or even in an instrument having no other function than that of a penextractor and inserter. Nor doI restrict myself to making the tongue e integral with or out of the same piece as the main body portion of the instrument, as it will be evident that the same result would be attainable if the said tongue were not integral with the rest of the handle.

Having thus described my invention,what I claim is- 1. A desk implement, provided at its forward end with cutting edges and at its rear end with upward and downward projections, whereby in resting upon a fiat surface the cutting edges will be brought into contact with said surface whichever side of the implement is proximate to said surface; sub stantially as described;

2. A deskimplement, provided with a slot and pen extracting tongue, and provided at its end with downward projections, whereby when the instrument rests upon a desk surface the pen-extracting tongue is raised above said surface; substantially as described.

3. A desk implement, provided with a slot and a pen-extracting and inserting tongue, said tongue being beveled at its free end and said slot being accessible to the pen from both sides of the implement; substantially as described.

4. A desk implement, provided with a slot and a pen-extracting and inserting tongue, said tongue being beveled'at its free end, and said slot being accessible to the pen from both sides of the implement and being of general U-shape at said free end; substantially as described.

5. A desk implement, comprising a sheetmetal body portion having a U-shaped slot surrounding a springy pen extracting and inserting tongue integral with the body portion and in the same plane therewith said tongue being beveled at its free end and the slot being accessible to the pen from both sides of the implement; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS D. INGRAM.

W'itnesses:

JOHN C. PENNIE, J. A. GOLDSBOROUGH. 

